Chicago Crime and Mob Bus Tour is a two-hour coach ride through gangster-era Chicago run by Chicago Crime Tours and Experiences, booking from $49 per person at our July 30, 2026 check. The listing counts 14 stops, and the one it is built around is the Biograph Theatre, where federal agents and police shot John Dillinger on July 22, 1934. The route also takes in the 1929 St. Valentine's Day Massacre site, Holy Name Cathedral, a historic courthouse the listing does not name, and crime addresses across the Gold Coast, Lincoln Park, Old Town, the Loop and the Magnificent Mile, with photo stops and optional short walks with the guide. It is true crime and organized crime rather than a ghost tour, and it suits people who would rather ride than walk.
| Detail | What the listing shows |
|---|---|
| From price | $49 per person (checked July 30, 2026) |
| Duration | 2 hours |
| Departures | No clock time verified |
| Stops | 14 per the listing. Of seven names captured, only the Biograph Theatre is a stop, not a pass-by. |
| Wheelchair access | Not accessible, per the listing. No stroller detail captured. |
| Minimum age | None captured. Ask the operator. |
| Meeting point | Not captured. Confirm the address when you book. |
| Cancellation | Free cancellation flagged. Confirm the window. |
| Availability | Bookable on July 30, 2026 |
| Rating | 4.6 from 3,457 Viator reviews, second-largest sample of the 15 we checked |
| Operator | Chicago Crime Tours and Experiences LLC. We do not run this tour. |
What you will see
The Biograph Theatre at 2433 to 2443 North Lincoln Avenue is the one address on this route where both the crime and the building survive. Samuel N. Crowen designed it, it opened in late September 1914, and the marquee everybody photographs went up in 1933, per the Commission on Chicago Landmarks. On July 22, 1934 Anna Sage told FBI agent Melvin Purvis that Dillinger would take her to a movie without saying which, so Purvis staffed the Marbro as well. The Biograph was showing Manhattan Melodrama. The picture let out at 10:45 p.m., and at the alley just south of a National Tea grocery store agents and police fired five shots, two of which hit Dillinger. He was pronounced dead at Alexian Brothers Hospital. Within the hour, people were dipping handkerchiefs in the blood on the pavement.
Four things narration usually gets wrong here. Purvis did not fire; he raised a hand as the prearranged signal, and FBI accounts name Charles B. Winstead, Clarence O. Hurt and Herman E. Hollis as the agents who shot. Dillinger did not die in the alley; he collapsed there and died at the hospital. Sage was not the Lady in Red, because the landmark report has her describing the dress as red or, later, dark orange, and the press supplied the nickname. And the seat: management pointed one out for years until owner Jack Cooney admitted in 1967, "Naturally, we don't have any idea what seat he sat in." The theater became a Chicago Landmark on March 28, 2001 and has staged live work since 2006.
The massacre site is the reverse: the crime is documented, the building is gone. At about 10:30 on the morning of February 14, 1929, seven men were shot dead inside the S.M.C. Cartage Company garage at 2122 North Clark Street, after four men arrived, two of them in police uniform (stvalentinemassacre.org). Two of the dead were not gunmen: Reinhardt Schwimmer, 29, a former optician, and John May, 35, a garage mechanic with a wife and children. Frank Gusenberg was still alive when police arrived, with 22 wounds, and the Chicago Tribune of February 15, 1929 reported that he died at Alexian Brothers Hospital after refusing for an hour to name anyone (chicagology). Capone was in Florida that morning, questioned in a Dade County courthouse about other matters (History.com), and nobody was ever charged.
Nothing is left to see there. The garage came down in the summer of 1967 for the Margaret Day Blake Apartments, and 2122 North Clark stopped existing as an address (WBEZ). No sign or marker stands there, the tree in the widely shared photo marks nothing, and the pizza restaurant across Clark opened in April 1972, so the lookout story attached to it has no documentary support (Chicago Detours). Lincoln Park, a pass-by here, covers the ground of the Chicago City Cemetery, and Pamela Bannos's archival work puts more than ten thousand forgotten graves under the park and the Gold Coast (Hidden Truths at Northwestern University). That ground is not the massacre block, which lies a few blocks north of the old cemetery footprint. Water Tower Place, the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Magnificent Mile, the John Hancock Center and North Avenue Beach are marked as pass-bys.
Who it suits
This is two hours in a coach seat with photo stops built in, made for covering ground rather than walking it. The subject is organized crime and true crime, with short walks alongside the guide at some locations.
- Skip it if anyone in your party uses a wheelchair. The listing says the tour is not accessible.
- Skip it if you want a paranormal investigation. Nothing on this route is sold as a haunting.
- Skip it if you want interior access. The Biograph is a working theater and the massacre site is a lawn.
- Ask the operator before booking with children. No age minimum was captured and the material is grim.
How it compares
Two other Chicago listings cover similar ground on foot and on wheels. Chicago: Gangsters and Ghosts Walking Tour is $35 for two hours at 4.8 across 7,177 Viator reviews, the largest review count among the 15 Chicago listings we checked, but it showed as unavailable on July 30, 2026, so confirm it is bookable first. Haunted Ghosts and The Chicago Outfit Segway Tour is $75.48 for two hours at 4.7 from 38 reviews, with a minimum age of 12, a 100-pound minimum weight and a 260-pound recommended maximum.
If riding is the point, another seated option among those 15 is Chicago Hauntings Original Ghost Bus Tour, $59 for three hours, rated 3.8 across 150 reviews, the lowest rating in that set. Of the three listings among those 15 that are built on organized crime, this is the only one that does not also sell a ghost angle. For the wider field, see our honest guide to Chicago ghost tours and our roundup of the best haunted ghost tours in Chicago.
Questions people ask
Is this a ghost tour?
No. It is true crime and organized crime, narrated from a coach seat, and the only one of the three organized-crime listings among the 15 we checked in Chicago without a ghost angle.
How long is it and what does it cost?
Two hours, from $49 per person at our July 30, 2026 check. Prices move, so confirm the current rate before booking.
Do you get off the bus?
Some of the time. The listing counts 14 stops, with photo stops and optional short walks with the guide. Of the seven names we captured, only the Biograph Theatre is not a pass-by.
Is it wheelchair accessible?
No. The listing states that the tour is not wheelchair accessible, and no stroller detail was captured, so ask the operator if that matters to you.
Did Dillinger die in the alley beside the Biograph?
He collapsed there, but was pronounced dead at Alexian Brothers Hospital on the night of July 22, 1934. Agents and police fired five shots and two hit him. Purvis gave the signal and did not fire.
Is anything left at the St. Valentine's Day Massacre site?
No. The garage was demolished in the summer of 1967 and the address no longer exists. The ground is lawn and parking beside a senior housing building, with no marker of any kind.
